The Truth Behind Transitions
by Manic Penguin
Summary: Santos' staff behins to realize exactly what they've gotten themselves into. Set during TRANSITION


The Truth Behind Transitions

Ronna peeked into Josh's office briefly before pulling the door closed. "Did the Congressman find his glove?" she asked.

"No, but the President-Elect did," Bram replied as he stirred his coffee.

"I did it again," Ronna cringed.

Bram nodded. "You did it again," Otto affirmed.

Ronna made a little hmm sound before yelping when Josh opened his office door and appeared looking like an extra on _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ only paler and without the seemingly requisite leather. "Oh god!"

Josh frowned at Ronna's reaction to him. He knew he wasn't looking his best but he didn't think he'd warranted the kind of reaction he'd gotten. "What?"

"I didn't even know you were here," Ronna said, unable to keep the shock and confusion out of her voice.

Josh coughed a little and reached for a carton of Tums. "What time did you get in?" Bram asked their boss.

"Six, six fifteen."

"Whoa," Otto said, his eyes growing wide. He'd gotten in at eight and it had felt proud to be so early—it was supposed to be a nine-to-five job, after all.

"Yeah, travelling threw me hours off," Josh said, sounding exhausted and congested. It was obvious that he was starting to get sick but no one wanted to be the one to tell him that he should take some time off. He was, after all, the only one who really knew what he was doing. Plus it doesn't do you much professional good to tell your boss he looks like crap.

"Usually seven-ish?" Ronna asked somewhat hopefully.

If Josh wasn't so pressed for time he would have laughed. "Five-ish," Josh said with a shake of his head. "Get me a meeting with Graydon," he said to Otto who was acting as his assistant during the Transition. Otto stared up at the ceiling clearly trying to remember who the hell Graydon was as Josh walked over to him while noisily chewing his antacids. "This doesn't reflect well on your hopes for advancement."

Finally the nickel dropped and Otto's brain kicked into gear. "Congressman Graydon. Ranking democrat on Ways and Means. Takes over the Chairmanship in the new Congress."

"Anytime's good as long as it's three o'clock today," Josh said before going off to meet with the President Elect.

Once Josh was out of the room Ronna turned to the guys. "Five-ish?" she asked, her voice getting a strange squeaky tone to it the way it tended to when she heard news that scared her.

"That might just be Josh being Josh," Bram said hopefully.

Otto nodded. "We need a second opinion. Donna will tell us the truth about what life in the White House is like."

"Agreed," Bram said, picking up the phone to call Donna. "You should still get on that appointment, though," he added to Otto who was standing around waiting for the result of Bram's phone call.

"Right," Otto said before rushing off to find the contact information for Congressman Grayson.

"Put her on speaker," Ronna said, not wanting to stand _that_ close to Bram.

Bram did as Ronna asked and a few rings later Donna answered. _"Donna Moss."_

"Donna, we need your honest assessment of the kind of hours we should expect to be working come January twentieth," Bram said.

_"Twenty-four seven," _Donna replied without a moment's pause.

Bram's eyes grew wide but Ronna held out hope that Donna was playing with them. "No, seriously," Ronna said.

_"I was being serious. For the next four to eight years you will be working around the clock. I suggest purchasing chargers for your cell phones, pagers, and laptops for your home, your car, your desk, and one for the bag of things you'll keep in the office for when you need a change of clothes and whatnot. Make sure you have enough suits to last you a full month without going to the cleaners because you won't have time to go anymore often than that. Do Christmas, birthday, anniversary, and all other shopping whenever you get a few hours off because you won't be able to do things like that when their time actually comes. Spend a few days with your families and friends over the next ten weeks because you won't be seeing them again until we're out of office unless you are incredibly lucky. Be prepared to eat nothing but take out and always make sure that the coffee pot is full and hot and strong enough to stain your teeth with one sip. And, above all else, make sure you are reachable at all times because national emergencies almost always happen at three in the morning and if you can't be reached you had better be dead in a ditch somewhere because there is no other excuse that will be accepted,"_ Donna said. _"What brought on this display of curiosity?"_

"Josh said 'five-ish' is when he usually gets to the office," Ronna said.

Donna chuckled. _"Guys, there are going to be times that you don't leave the West Wing for a week at a time. You come in early, stay until eleven if you're lucky, and then you have to be ready to do it all over again the next day."_ She paused and then said,_ "Ronna, before I forget let me impart a few words of feminine fashion wisdom. Low heels are your best friend. You're going to walk at least twenty miles a day, plus another ten or so that will have to be covered at a run. Invest in low heeled shoes with good ankle support. Especially in the first few months until you get a hang of Pedi-conferencing."_

"Of what?" Ronna asked.

_"Pedi-conferencing. Your basic walk and talk, only at West Wing pace. Half of what is done in the White House is done while walking between meetings or whatever. The Free World is run while moving between Point A and Point B. Not so much for the President's immediate administrative staff, but definitely for anyone working for Chief of Staff or lower," _Donna explained.

"You can't be serious," Bram said.

_"Start working on your cardio, people. You'll need to take in a lot of information, share even more, and do it all while speed walking and trying not to known anyone down or anything over,"_ Donna said. _"Look, I'll make sure that everyone if fully briefed on what life in the West Wing is like before we take office, but for now you guys need to be focused on the Transition. Right now we all have a billion and one things to do. Josh, for example, is going to have to run to get to his meeting with CJ on time,"_ she said, a not-so-subtle hint for Ronna to get Josh on his way. Donna wasn't Josh's assistant anymore and most of the time she didn't know what his schedule was like, but she remembered Josh mentioning a meeting with CJ about, among other things, Inauguration.

"On it," Ronna said before hurrying to the President-Elect's office.

_"You sufficiently freaked out yet?"_ Donna asked Bram.

"The guy Josh is trying to get for DCoS… he's not as intense as Josh, is he?" Bram asked. He had been offered a position as Assistant Deputy in the Operations section and was starting to wonder if being an Assistant Deputy instead of Personal Aide to the President was worth it.

_"He has his moments,"_ Donna confessed, _"but Sam is much calmer. You may want to start memorizing the contents of the Thesaurus, though. He has a tendency to get polysyllabic when he gets into the zone. And make sure you don't undercut one of his soliloquies—he hates it when people break his flow. Other than that Sam is a great guy to work for and with. Much lower intensity quotient than Josh. Now, if you don't have anything else to ask, I should really get back to the meeting I'm in."_

"Thanks Donna," Bram said before hanging up.

Sighing heavily, Bram sank into the nearest chair. "What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?" he muttered before going back to work.

End.


End file.
